Fess Up

2013 November 19

by Rob Meltzer

I’d like to expand on something I heard on the radio this morning. On a conservative Fox affiliate talk show in Alabama (which I didn’t hear personally) the host apparently offered $100 to any Obama voter who didn’t qualify for a subsidy and who had individual coverage could prove to the listeners that as a result of a Obamacare that person would get a better health policy at a better price. As it was reported, not one person could earn that money.

So I want to know from the Holmes & Company chorus: any of you on individual plans? Have you found a better policy at better cost? Are you amongst the winners in this lottery? What I’m asking is if one person who reads this can demonstrate by having actually used an exchange to buy coverage since October 1, 2013 to better their insurance situation without a subsidy.

That was basically the result of the call in show. That no one can seemingly come forward who can prove that they have benefited. There are all kinds of people who think they have benefited, but, really, how many mamograms does the actual single male really need?

How do you define “better policy”? As we know, a lot of real cheap policies are only good if you never get sick or run up a huge hospital bill. Is a more expensive policy that with no copays for preventive care and no lifetime cap “better,” even if it costs more?

I don’t have an individual policy and I don’t listen to Fox radio talkshows in Alabama, so I don’t qualify. I have heard anecdotes about people who got a better deal through the exchanges. Some people in high risk pools have been paying outrageous premiums with outrageous deductibles.

Its easy to define. I have a policy. I pay x per month for my policy. My policy covers y. My policy doesn’t cover z, because its not something that I need, ever, for obvious gender differences. barrycare comes along. My insurance company cancels my policy because it doesn’t provide mammograms. So I, Mr. Jones, go out on the exchange, because my policy has been deemed substandard. The new silver plan, which is equal to my prior coverage, costs x plus a per month. But it is a better policy because it covers mammograms! So I have a policy which is “better” because now, I, Mr. Jones, can get mammograms at no charge, I pay more, but I’m being told that my policy is better because it provides things that didn’t exist even in my old policy, so even I pay more per month, and have a higher deductible, and it may not cover something I want, I’m one of the winners in the barrycare lottery because my old policy isn’t as good as my new policy. that’s the argument in a nutshell. What I’m looking for is one person who can show that an old policy was not meeting the needs, that the new policy provides the same needs, and that the cost differential is the same or less. It’s not rocket science. And not one person could step up in Alabama, and I’m looking for one person here.

What if applicant in the example you suggest is Ms. Jones. Under her new policy, she pays the same as a male of similar age and zip code, and her mammograms are covered. Isn’t her new policy better than her old policy?

Assuming that all the regulars on this blog are Massachusetts residents I do not believe it would be possible to find a “better policy at better cost” in Massachusetts based on PPACA. The jury is still out on those on the 3,500,000 or so on large-group and self-insured employer sponsored insurance because the employer mandate was delayed a year but for the rest of us for 2014…

1. 230,000 on Commonwealth Care (free or highly subsidized RomneyCare, which was available from a limited number of insurers until two days ago)
— 100,000 will be automatically moved to Medicaid — same cost but not better “policy” (anyone being moved to Medicaid from Comm Care was getting free Comm Care)
— 130,000 forced to sign up for Obamacare insurance — hard to tell because of the broken Massachusetts exchange web site but it looks like, for the same money, your deductibles and OOP limits are at least doubled (with a lot higher co-pays too) or you can keep your old deductible and OOP limits if you pay twice as much (you still get the higher co-pays though); in other words, if you have a Bronze RomneyCare this year you need at least a Gold Obamacare policy to keep the same benefits

2. 40,000 covered by Commonwealth Choice (full price RomneyCare)
— 20,000 will get subsidized Obamacare insurance coverage that they could not get under RomnyeCAre (because they make between 300%-400% of FPL) so they get a better price; but whomever is buying the policy for these people will have the same bad choices in terms of deductibles and OOP limits and tiered providers and so forth as the 130,000 above, something they did not have with Comm Choice; so it will not be a better policy
— 20,000 who make above 400% FPL (they bought Commonwealth Choice simply to avoid going to a broker) face exactly the same situation as the 130,000 Commonwealth Care subscribers: double and nothing

3. Those 40,000-50,000 covered by insurance bought individually outside the exchange but not in the 300% FPL-400% FPL cohort will be much worse off because PPACA effectively ended the RomneyCare “merged market” rating system, which was one of the few good things about RomneyCARe; they get hurt the most

4. 600,000 covered by insurance bought through small groups–also hurt by the PPACA-dictated rating system change but not as much as those covered by insurance bought by individuals; on the other hand these plans were typically the most like RomneyCare bronze level so probably they will not be hurt a lot more than they would have in any given year (10% year over year premium increases; increasingly through tiered provider networks; high co-pays)

5. 1,000,000 on Medicaid — this gets a little worse every year and nothing is different for 2014

6. 1,000,000 on Medicare supplements
— 200,000 on public Part C Medicare Advantage plans now feel full brunt of PPACA cuts; primarily seeing OOP limits being raised dramatically for same premium dollar
— 800,000 on private Medigap insurance are basically seeing no change in what has always been substandard insurance (doesn’t meet PPACA criteria because it has lifetime limits)

I don’t think you’ll find anyone in the United States. period. this is a train wreck, and no one seems able to find a single person better off other than those who are now on welfare, another way of saying subsidized.

Remember when Rahm Emanuel, (who was Obama’s Chief of Staff at the time) said that Obama shouldn’t let a crisis go to waste. That must have stuck in Obama’s mind. Why not create a crisis, then go to work and “fix” it after apologizing (sort of)? scapegoating the insurance companies along the way.

Obama (with the help of Democrats) created this crisis, but I doubt he’ll be able to fix it, and even some of the ones who voted for the ACA are jumping ship. I will be surprised if he ever gets his credibility back.

His disapproval ratings are rising daily now, with people saying they believe he deliberately lied. Only his steadfast supporters will continue to believe him, which shows how deeply devoted they are to him, come rain or come shine.

Oh, by the way, Fox News pegged him for a liar, a long, long time ago. If more people had listened to them, they wouldn’t have been surprised when Obama pulled the rug out from under them. As for myself, I never believed him from the first day he came on the scene. He was just too smooth, too charming, too insincere. But, I’ll be kind. I won’t say I told you so.

Obama didn’t leave 50 million Americans without health insurance. That was the situation when he took office.

I’ll add another question to Rob’s: Anyone here ever known anyone who put off a doctor’s visit, or filling a prescription, or a treatment, because their insurance didn’t cover it. Any of you know anyone who is uninsured, or has been uninsured. Any of you know anyone who lost their job, and the insurance that came with it, who couldn’t get another job that offered insurance, and who had pre-existing conditions that made buying individual policies expensive or impossible?

I do, in my own family. And for their sake, I’m glad we’re trying to create universal health insurance.

I’m reminded of a guy who sat by his mother’s bed as she lay dying of cancer. She’d lost her job and had no insurance. To this day, it pains him that at that moment she wasn’t saying her good-byes to family and loved ones. She was worrying about her children being saddled with her hospital bills.

That guy was Barack Obama, and that’s the emotional touchstone of his commitment to health care reform.

It bothers me that so many Americans would be happy to see more people suffer that fate, as long as it means a political defeat for the president they despise.

I don’t have a name, and I can’t vouch for the veracity of this example, posted to another blog, but since you’re desperate for a example (while, curiously, refusing to post a real example of your own of the horribles of obamacare):

“California Obamacare is 20 kinds of awesome. It took 45 minutes to sign up and it will save me between 6,000 and 11,000 dollars PER YEAR depending on whether I have to go to the doctor. And now if I want to switch jobs or be self-employed I don’t have to worry about pre-existing BS conditions that they’ve turned me down for in the past even though I’ve never had a serious disease or been hospitalized. Don’t drink, don’t smoke, not overweight … my pre-existing crime against humanity? Over 50. If you were over 50 in the pre-ACA days, it was next to impossible to get a policy.”

“A fascinating number in Wednesday’s CBS poll is that only 7% of the American public want ObamaCare “kept in place.” A full 93% either believe that changes are needed to the law (48%) or want a full repeal (43%). This pits President Obama and Democrat lawmakers — who thus far have refused to make any meaningful changes — against 93% of the American people and 72% of Democrats.

“Moreover, only 12% of Democrats want ObamaCare “kept as is.” Another 12% want it repealed.”

To anyone who has been paying attention, this comes as no big surprise. It was only a matter of time before reality set in. To believe that a massive overhaul of one sixth of the economy causing millions of Americans to lose their health insurance, would be a success, indicates a refusal to live in the real world.

Obamacare was based on the president’s dream, a dream that turned into a nightmare for Americans. Now they are coming awake, at least 93% of them. The other 7% are still asleep and have hung up the sign “Do Not Disturb”

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